The basic operation of a CMOS active pixel sensor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,215. This kind of image sensor, and other similar image sensors, often operate by using an array of photoreceptors to convert light forming an image, into signals indicative of the light, e.g. charge based signals. Those signals are often analog, and may be converted to digital by an A/D converter. Image sensors which have greater numbers of elements in the image sensor array may produce more signals. In order to handle these signals, either more A/D converters must be provided, or the existing A/D converters need to digitize the data from these image sensors at higher signal rates. For example, a high precision CMOS active pixel sensor may require an A/D converter which is capable of 10 bits of resolution at 20 Megasamples per second.
Image sensors of this type are often limited by the available area or xe2x80x9creal estatexe2x80x9d on the chip, a and the available power for driving the chip. An advantage of using CMOS circuitry is that power consumption of such a circuit may be minimized. Therefore, the power consumption of such a circuit remains an important criteria. Also, since real estate on the chip may be limited, the number of A/D converters and their size should be minimized.
A/D converters with this kind of resolution, in the prior art, may have a power consumption of about 25 mW using a 3.3 volt power supply.
The present application describes a system, and a special A/D converter using individual successive approximation A/D converter cells which operate in a pipelined fashion.